어버이 날 ♥ Parents Day in Korea

May is fun month for everyone here in South Korea~ on the 5th you have Children’s Day and shortly after you have Parent’s Day on the 8th!

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Parent’s Day // 어버이 날 in Korea is a combination of both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day~ individual holidays which most of us from the West are used to celebrating, but honestly it makes a LOT more sense to have both together in one day! Even though it is not a national holiday, it is still very much an important date on the Korean calendar! This tradition came over to Korea in 1956 originally as Mother’s day, but from 1973 the names changed to Parents day to include the Fathers and give them some love as well!

If you are new to Korea you will be able to tell Parent’s day is approaching by the number of special gifts and displays set up in stores, and CARNATIONS! In Korea the symbol and iconic gift for parents day comes in the form of a carnation flower~traditionally it is red in color, but others are available. Parents Day in Korea works the same as the related holidays back home, you are supposed to buy a gift and be thoughtful to your parents on that day to show your appreciation for them!

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If you have Family here make sure you at least bring by a small gift or flower arrangement, flowers are the standard gift here and the street will be filled with SUPER cute baskets! It does not have to be a carnation gift, they are just the most common! Family outings and dinners are also common on this holiday and nowadays even things like full body exams or beauty/spa treatments are given as gifts

Special bonus carnation gift for Parents day when you buy beauty products! Lots of brand here had little extras like this for the weeks leading up to the holiday at the department stores

So why are red carnations (or even carnations in general) the iconic symbol for Parent’s Day in Korea?

Apparently this is an American tradition originally tied to Mothers Day in the USA by the holidays founder who would hand out her Mother’s favorite white carnations. I had no idea about this, maybe because they do not slam us with the carnation special merch back home? Maybe it is one of those things I knew in grade school and have forgotten haha~ Anyway, this flower is supposed to convey love, purity, and admiration ♥ When the holiday was brought here that symbolism stuck extra hard.

Most flower arrangements given for special occasions or holidays in Korea have ribbons on them saying what its for (like “Congratulations”and such, shocker I know) so for Parents Day almost every arrangement for sale had ribbons that basically say “ Parental Graciousness~ Thank you” or it could be worded in English as “thank you parents for everything”. Even tiny little baskets had teeny little ribbons on them, it was really adorable to see mini versions.

This style of basket with the ribbon flower and hanging beads was EVERYPLACE for this holiday.

We made sure to stop by a flower shop and get a basket made for Nara’s Parents ♥

The usual flower vendors in Seoul fill up the tables with 어버이 날 baskets!

The stores also have tables filled up with special Mom and Dad sets + Parents Day carnation themed gifts for the holiday!

Art*Box pins, cards, and flowers for Parents Day ♥

Another fun thing that ties in with this holiday is Parent’s Day crafts!! SO MANY crafts are around for kids (or artsy people!) to create pretty gifts for parents. Kits are sold, but many are easy to make with computer printouts or origami paper!

3D paper rose template! I found this on a Korean papercraft blog, but it is actually an English craft kit! You can find the PDF files HERE

♥ ♥ ♥ SHOPPING ♥ ♥ ♥

Like some of the cute accessories you saw in this post? Good news!!! I found out that a few from the cute Korean brand iswas are actually sold online! YAY! Seriously, I found these by accident and it was a happy surprise I like it when I find something from here online so I can point you to it properly lol Click the following images for the link to the related Carnation or parents day product! They have so many that are really cute *_*

Click the above images to see the related products! You can find ever more goodies for sale HERE~ straps, pens, cards, etc! These make pretty gifts for Korean parents, or actually any parent since some are in English! I love the Carnation pen *_* so puffy!!